This invention relates generally to a system and method of providing information and services to a population of persons through portable devices which can be used to access any of a number of terminals to make use of the services offered at the said terminals. The system and method in particular provide for security against unauthorized access. The invention has use in the fields of automatic banking, automatic credit and debit transactions, passport and travel visa verification, health and medical records, security access, licensing and any other like field where fraud may pose a problem.
Data transfer systems using portable devices such as cards with some memory capability, for example, a magnetic strip, and terminals to which the portable devices can be connected are well known. Generally they are used to control access to some area or service. Usually the terminals are connected to a central processing unit or computer which controls access and is the ultimate storage facility for the information on the card.
British Patent 1504196 to Moreno describes such a prior art system comprised of a portable device and a peripheral device or terminal which is connected to a central computer. Many of the portable devices referred to as prior art in Moreno used magnetic track memories which could easily be modified or the contents read. Also the memory storage capacity was quite low and the memory was susceptible of accidental modification. This left such systems vulnerable to abuse from fraudulent intervention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,464 addressed the problem of lack of memory capacity and volatility by disclosing a portable device containing an integrated circuit memory. The device still suffered from the problem that the memory could be read and the contents extracted or changed. Moreno advanced the art by adding inhibiting means to prevent the transfer of data out of or into prohibited areas of the memory of the portable device. Preferably the portable device contained its own inhibiting means but the inhibiting means could be contained in the peripheral device.
In British Patent 1505715 to Moreno there is disclosed a system for interchanging information which is like those described above, but without the error prone direct connections from the peripheral devices connected to the central computer. The peripheral devices contained a write mechanism which could transfer the information from the portable device to the peripheral device devices would then be collected on some regular basis and taken to the central computer where the information would be transferred to the central computer""s memory.
Canadian Patent 1207460 to Ugon discloses a method and apparatus for authorizing access to a service offered by an authorizing entity. The system comprises a portable card with memory and a microprocessor, and an authorizing entity system capable of communicating with the card and also performing computer program operations. The card and the system have the same algorithm to be executed and each has secret data upon which the algorithms operate to produce a result which can be compared to ensure that proper access is granted. This system is rather complicated and involves an operator at the authorizing entity end.
It is also known to encode a fingerprint on a portable card to verify the identity of the user. UK Patent Application GB 2185937 A of O""Shea et al discloses a credit or similar card which incorporates a computer generated image of the fingerprint of the authorized user. When a transaction is to be verified the user""s finger print is scanned by a finger print reader and the result is compared with the information on the card. The user is authorized to have access if the prints match. Such devices are presently commercially available.
The systems described above suffer from the problem of complexity or they are susceptible to fraudulent and unauthorized access and tampering with the information in the card or the terminal. The present invention provides an apparatus and method for providing a highly secure and highly fraud proof system for providing access to services of an authorizing entity.
The invention provides an improvement over previous systems and methods of authorizing access to services in a card-terminal environment by providing for a system of protection and authorization which makes the system highly fraud-proof. The system is comprised of a portable device such as a card, a peripheral device such as a terminal, and optionally, a remote host computer in the case of large systems, although it can be seen that the host computer is not necessary for an operational system. These components are connected via some communication medium such as electrical connectors or optics or radio transmission. The terminal contains a microprocessor or some such logic device and memory, a card reading device and a finger print scanner. The card contains a microprocessor or some such logic device and memory, which can be connected to the terminal via electronic or some other means such as optics or radio transmission. The card and terminal each have their own data and programs. Upon insertion of the card into the reader a process of verification is carried out by means of the microprocessors or logic units, the programs and data in the memories. The card verifies that the terminal is valid, the terminal verifies that the card is valid and the user is verified by means of a finger print scan and comparison with finger print data previously recorded in the card. This is not to say that some other form of physical characteristic could not be used such as retinal or DNA scan. Where data is being transmitted between components of the system encoding and decoding is used to further enhance the security of the system.
The invention comprises a system for the interchange of information comprising at least one portable electronic device; at least one terminal device; communication means connecting the portable device with the terminal device; the portable device containing verification means to verify that the terminal device is a valid one; the terminal device containing verification means to verify that the portable device is a valid one and further verification means to verify that the user is authorized to use the system; protection means to prevent tampering with a terminal and encryption means to encode and decode data at the interfaces between the portable device and the terminal device.
The invention also consists of a method of preventing unauthorized access to a system comprised of a plurality of portable devices, a plurality of terminal devices and a communication link connecting the said terminal devices to a central host computer wherein the said portable device contains information identifying the said portable device as well as the authorized user, when the said terminal is connected to the said portable device and power is supplied to the said portable device the terminal device queries the portable device to determine if it is a valid portable device, if not the portable device is retained or rejected by the terminal, in turn the portable device queries the terminal to determine if the terminal is a valid terminal, if not the portable device erases its memory and becomes harmless, the terminal in turn scans a physical characteristic of the user and compares that information with stored information on the portable device to determine if that user is authorized to use the portable device and the terminal, if the portable device and terminal are valid and the user is authorized access is allowed to the service, if not the card is retained or rejected; when the power to the terminal is interrupted the terminal programs and data are lost and can only be reloaded by authorized personnel with their access portable devices or from the host computer; encryption is used at the portable device and terminal interface as well as at the terminal and host computer interface. Preferably said electronic card further stores the majority of application algorithms in the e-squared portion of the integrated circuit thereby providing a dynamic set up structure such that said card can be dynamically programmed for each unique application.